Clallam County commissioner Mike Chapman won more than 45 percent of the vote and Port Ludlow Republican George Vrable took more than 36 percent in the initial count of primary election ballots tonight in a three-way race for a Legislative District 24 state representative seat.
Tammy Ramsay, a Hoquiam Democrat, had 3,999 votes, or 17.58 percent by 8:51 p.m. tonight.
The two candidates who receive the most primary election votes will face off in the November general election, regardless of party affiliation, for the Position 1 seat vacated by state Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, a Sequim Democrat who is seeking the Senate seat vacated by Jim Hargrove.
Hargrove, a Hoquiam Democrat, announced earlier this year that he would retire after more than 30 years in the state Legislature, 23 in the state Senate.
Legislative District 24 covers Clallam and Jefferson counties and a portion of Grays Harbor County.
Chapman, 53, who is running as a Democrat, won 10,382 votes, or 45.65 percent in tonight’s count. The Port Angeles man has served four terms as Clallam County commissioner.
Vrable, 72, won 8,361 votes, or 36.76 percent. Vrable is a retired battalion chief of Navy Region Northwest Fire Department.
Ramsay, 48, has not attended candidate forums since she filed on May 19 and did not respond to requests for answers to a candidate questionnaire for a Peninsula Daily News voter guide package on candidates for the race.
However, she said on July 18 that she had not suspended her campaign, her attention having been diverted by illness and injury in her family, and that she had been campaigning.
When asked if she would attend candidate forums for the November election, she said she would to have to see primary election results before she could comment on the general election.
A challenge to state Rep. Steve Tharinger’s bid for a third term in the Position 2 seat for Legislative District 24 was on the primary ballot, but results do not affect the election. Both Tharinger and Republican challenger John D. Alger of Sequim will be on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.
Tharinger won 14,022 votes, or 61.98 percent to Alger’s 8,603 votes, or 38.02 percent in tonight’s count.
A state Senate seat in the Legislative District 24 also has only two candidates.
In tonight’s count of primary ballots, Van De Wege had 14,122 votes, or 61.99 percent. Danille Turissini of Port Ludlow, who filed as “Independent GOP party,” won 8,659 votes, or 38.01 percent.
